Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., an LTE system).
By way of example, a wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user euipment (UEs), mobile devices or stations (STAs). A base station may communicate with the communication devices on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a base station).
As cellular networks have become more congested, operators are beginning to look at ways to maximize the use of available network resources. One approach may include utilizing spare uplink resources (e.g., available spectrum) to schedule downlink traffic from the base station to one or more communication devices. This may, however, impact certain uplink transmissions from the UEs, such as hybrid automatic repeat/request (HARD) transmission feedback, channel state information (CSI) transmissions, etc. For example, it is possible that uplink resources configured for such transmissions are utilized for scheduling downlink traffic by the base station, in which case the uplink transmissions may not be received by the base station.